Chelsea wanted to do something nice for her grandparents’ anniversary, since she couldn’t be there to celebrate. She decided to send them some flowers through 1800Flowers.com. Unfortunately, she had no way of knowing that the local florist handling orders in her grandparents’ area closed on Saturdays, and chose Saturday delivery.
UPS Shipment Takes Gap Year, Hides In Indiana For 14 Months
By October 4, 2009
After yesterday’s article about a package’s 14-year UPS odyssey, Matt wrote in to share a misdelivery of his own. This package only spent 14 months astray—sort of a gap year. However, the item was shipped after the advent of online tracking, so he has a record of its travels. Or utter lack of travels.
UPS Has Strange Concept Of "Out Of Sight"
By September 4, 2009
Chris sent us this picture of a package that UPS delivered to his apartment. Instead of leaving it at the complex’s office, the delivery person left the box in a “secure, out of sight” location.
Need To Change Your UPS Delivery Address In Transit? There's A Fee For That
By September 3, 2009
If you’re having a package delivered by UPS and want to change the delivery address while it’s in transit, be warned: this service will now cost you either $4 or $6 depending on whether you make the request online or over the phone.
Sears Finally Delivers Air Conditioner, Follows With Barrage Of Phone Calls
By August 7, 2009
Remember Eric, Fleur, and their epic air conditioner ordeal? When we last spoke to them, they were AC-less, hot, cranky, and reaching out to the Internets for help. Now they have their air conditioners, but only after a stunning show of disorganized solicitousness on the part of Sears.
Sears Won't Deliver Air Conditioner Until Customer Pays Fee Sears Forgot To Charge
By July 24, 2009
Eric wrote to us this week with a tale of such epic dysfunction while trying to purchase air conditioners from Sears that there’s not much we can add to it. Inside: Imaginary deliveries, super-secret New York City surcharges, and the hazards of daring to order anything over the phone.
Brooklyn Heights Postman Lifts With Neither Knees Nor Back
By May 25, 2009
Our country’s postal employees have a well-deserved day off today. However, let this New York mail carrier’s mistake serve as a lesson for the Internet age: don’t do anything stupid in public, ever, because someone will probably be surreptitiously filming you.
Package Mauled By Puppies After Fedex Delivery Error
By May 14, 2009
Jill is annoyed at Fedex. First, they delivered her package to the wrong house. Normally, this is a minor error and an opportunity to visit with your neighbors, but Fedex didn’t deliver it to just any house. They opened the gate and put her package inside the fenced-in yard where two evidently bored puppies were hanging out.
Save Money On ProFlowers Roses, Re-Gift Last Week's Flowers Instead
By May 8, 2009
Why pay for ProFlowers when you can get the same effect by dumpster diving for old arrangements that look just as good? Our reader Hakoken3 paid ProFlowers $92 so they’d deliver 18 roses to his girlfriend this morning on her birthday. He paid extra to ensure that the roses would be delivered by noon, and at 12:01 they showed up. Unfortunately, they were so wilted and near-death that they looked like hand-me-down flowers that some luckier person had thrown out.
Walmart's Prescription Drug Couriers Arrested For Speeding, Smoking
By April 26, 2009
When you think “prescription drugs,” you think of clean, sterile facilities, not three stoners driving 100 mph down I-15 with $30,000 of Walmart’s prescription narcotics in the backseat. Cops pulled the trio over, which included two illegal immigrants, and called Walmart to confirm that these were the folks employed to deliver their dirt-cheap drugs. “They said yeah they were expecting a delivery and the driver was late.”
Sears' New 'Secret Eavesdropping' Phone Technique Improves Customer Service, But Totally Freaks Out Other Sears Employees
By March 6, 2009
It looks like Sears has finally figured out a way to ensure good customer service for home deliveries. Unfortunately, this method induces extreme paranoia in other Sears employees. The woman referred to as “Delivery” in Jason’s retelling below will probably never trust another coworker again.
Crazed Pizza Hut Delivery Guy Drives Onto Your Lawn, Tries To Fight You, Leaves With Food
By February 21, 2009
Eugene and his wife Julie tried to order some pasta from Pizza Hut the other night. What they got instead was a turfed lawn and an invitation to a fist fight from the very angry delivery guy.
Papa John's Founder Says Don't Eat Too Much Of His Pizza
By February 6, 2009
Marketing and PR folks probably dread stories like this one: John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John’s, said on a BBC radio interview yesterday that you shouldn’t eat too much of their pizza.
Proflowers Does Not Want This Man To Send Flowers
By January 29, 2009
William has given Proflowers three chances to send his flower orders to a loved one. So far, they’re 0 for 3. William says they’ve refunded his money, so he doesn’t feel cheated or anything. But as he points out, since flower deliveries are usually a time-sensitive matter, reliability is really the number one goal you’re looking for in a flower company.
Papa John's Is Taking Your Theft Seriously, And Gets Offended If You Don't Believe Them
By July 31, 2008
Mark didn’t like how a Papa John’s pizza delivery guy was acting, so he paid the delivery charge but marked through the tip line on his receipt. Two days later, he discovered an extra $6.42 had been tacked on. When Mark called Papa John’s to report the theft, he spoke to someone who obviously hasn’t gotten our memo that “taking it seriously” is about as reassuring as “your call is very important to us.”
UPS Can't Find Your Lost Computer, So They'll Honor Their Insurance Policy
By May 25, 2008
Remember Nick? UPS smashed up his insured computer and then refused to provide any compensation, even after mysteriously shipping it to a stranger. UPS’ public relations folks reached out to us after we posted his story and recently sent us an update: “…after a search of all UPS’s facilities we were not able to recover his computer.” Bummer, but all is not lost.
UPS Tells Customer To Pick Up His Package At A Construction Site
By May 24, 2008
UPS told reader Jason to meet their delivery truck at a construction site to pick up a $600 microphone he spent $40 overnighting from New York. Bad Brown aborted its first delivery attempt after being scared off by a menacing buzzer at Jason’s office guarded by five smiling receptionists. When Jason called to find out how he could retrieve his package that night, he was told he could meet the truck en route. He didn’t realize that UPS was about to send him to a construction site. Try to guess if the driver showed up…
